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Vulgar Statistics: Jordan Leopold

Ah the Jordan Leopard. If you watch versus with regularity, like I do, you’re probably groaning at the title to this and I apologize for that. But let’s take a look at Jordan Leopold for a minute. Now I don’t think he’s going to pot the 82 goals he’s on pace for, or probably even twenty for that matter. But in two games, it’s clear he gives us something we’ve been lacking in recent years: a decent shot from the point with a legit chance to go in the net.

Leopold is off to a fast start with two goals that, though Lundqvist probably should have saved both, were still pretty good shots. Last season we had two guys that didn’t even score two goals all season on defense in Chris Butler and Craig Rivet. As far as the Sabres’ most productive defenseman Tyler Myers, it took him four games to log two points, and seven to log two goals. The rest of the Sabres defense last season:

Tallinder – 6 games for 2 pts, 49 games for 2 goals

Montador – 9 games for 2 pts, 28 games for 2 goals

Sekera – 13 games for 2 pts, 21 games for 2 goals

Lydman – 16 games for 2 pts, 46 games for 2 goals

Now I’m just illustrating a point, not comparing Leopold to any of those guys, or saying he’s even going to approach a Mike Green level of production. What he does is add another dimension to the Sabres. The fact that Leopold can add even a mite of an offensive side to that second defensive pairing could pay dividends in the long run. Especially if his game bolsters Steve Montador’s, Buffalo’s second most productive defenseman last year. And Montador played most of the season with Toni Lydman, a player not known for his offense.

This is probably the most roster turnover we’ve had since 2007, although this time I feel the changes were positive. I’m excited about this group. I feel like they might take some time to gel together and we might see a middling Sabres team to start the season, but I feel like the roster changes were all positive, and I think big things are possible.

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